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So, who wears the blame for poorly covered storm drain?: The Fixer

A former city staffer says city workers would never leave an open storm drain covered only by two pieces of wood.

The circular grate on this storm drain, on Gerrard St., east of Victoria Park Ave., was missing until the city replaced it Thursday, the same day we wrote about it. A former city employee told us there's "no way" city workers would have left it covered only by two narrow pieces of wood, held in place by a bag of road salt. But that appears to be exactly what happened. (Jack Lakey / TORONTO STAR)

It seems we ruffled feathers when we said the city “dropped the ball” by leaving an open storm drain covered only by two small pieces of wood.

A former city employee insists his ex-colleagues would never leave a catch basin uncovered. And if they are responsible for the shoddy temporary repair that we found, someone did the best they could in the circumstances.

Our Thursday column was about a missing storm drain grate on Gerrard St., with the open hole covered by two pieces of wood laid across it, held in place by two bags of road salt and marked by a pylon.

We noted that despite our high regard for city workers, it looked like they used poor judgment when the open hole was temporarily covered in a way that created a danger for drivers.

Another cover was installed the same day as our column, a good indication of the city’s resolve to do the right thing, when push comes to shove.

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So, we were wrong to blame city workers?

Ed McCrudden, who said he worked for the city for 35 years, sent us a note saying, “Well sir, I have some news for you. Your conclusion is erroneous.

“There is NO WAY the city would ever remove a catch basin lid and go away leaving it covered with wood and a pylon. Not a chance. Never.

“You remove one of those, you replace it immediately with a new one. Every time.”

McCrudden touched on scenarios that might account for it, saying “someone must have called it in, and whoever went there to check it out did his best to make it safe with the materials he had on hand.

“He was probably working alone, after hours. He may even have been called in from his home.

“The emergency guy's job is to make it safe for the public and then refer the call on to the district yard for repairs ASAP.”

He went on to say, “You would be shocked if you knew how few people cover emergencies after hours and on weekends, believe me. It is totally unacceptable, but that's what they've done. Cutbacks after cutbacks.”

In our Thursday column, we said it’s hard not to conclude that the cover was removed by the city; they’re heavy and hard to move, unless you have a pry bar.

Given McCrudden’s explanation, we asked Steve Johnston, who deals with media for transportation services, if he could find out who’s responsible for the temporary fix, and if anyone from the city removed the grate.

Johnston confirmed that the temporary repair was made at night by a field investigator who was indeed working only with materials on hand.

He couldn’t say how the cover went missing, or when, but said that when the city is aware of such a situation, the goal is to replace it in one business day.

Based on the complaint we got, it’s clear that it took a lot longer than one day to replace the grate, and that it should have been done within that time frame.

But McRudden is bang-on about how only a few people are responsible for covering a wide territory after hours. It’s the price of continually squeezing and prodding to achieve efficiencies.

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